


Can You Hear the Pipes?

by GraveVyxen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 10:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GraveVyxen/pseuds/GraveVyxen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quick character study of Felix and my take on his backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Hear the Pipes?

**Author's Note:**

> TITLE: Can You Hear the Pipes?
> 
> CHARACTERS: Peter Pan, Felix, other Lost Boys
> 
> PAIRINGS: Peter/Felix, if you squint.
> 
> NOTES: I really needed to take a break from writing chapters of fics that may or may not ever see the light of day, and from the long Mad Hook fic I've been working on for a month now (I have writing ADD, I swear).
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Not my characters. Never happened. All made up in my mind.

The quiet of the night was broken by the soft sound of pipes. Felix looked up from his pillow. He'd fallen face down on it hours ago to try and doze off, to no avail. His brain was running too quickly, too loudly. He couldn't seem to drown his thoughts for long enough to even get comfortable and sleep. The room he laid in was dark. His younger siblings, two brothers, one sister, had all gone to bed when their mother put them down. She hadn't even spared her eldest a glance. Not that she ever really spoke to him. Not after the accident.

It was past midnight. It should be silent, inside and out, at this hour. So where was the sound coming from?

Felix slowly, silently, climbed to his feet and glanced around. None of the younger children seemed to hear the music, or were too deeply asleep to notice it. His eyes were drawn to the window, body following shortly after. The village square was lit by the moonlight that peeked through the clouds in the sky. He pushed the window open wider and paused to make sure that he hadn't awoken anyone once more before slipping out into the night.

A warm breeze ruffled his nightshirt, and his bare feet sunk slightly into the damp ground outside while he tried to figure out where the music was coming from. Felix caught sight of two other boys, sneaking hurriedly toward the line of trees on the outskirts of town, and he followed. The music grew louder as they went on, deeper into the woods, until they reached a clearing.

Around a blazing fire, many boys danced, jumping and calling out, having fun, and on the other side of the clearing, a hooded figure leaned against a tall tree. A set of pipes were clenched in strong hands, held to the opening in the hood, while the music continued.

Felix felt a lightness, for the first time in his life, when the full volume of the pipes hit him. Without another thought, he joined in the unpracticed dance, jumping around with the rest of the boys. He almost let his mind wander to home, to his siblings and his mother, wondering why none of them had heard the music as well. His eyes moved back to the hooded figure and the train of thought stopped.

Suddenly, the music paused. Some of the boys shook their heads, as if they were coming out of a long dream. Others continued to move around the fire, seemingly unaware of the quiet. And then, there was Felix, whose eyes were locked on the piper, wondering what it was about him that drew them all here.

He didn't have to wait long. The hood was dropped back to reveal a young boy, younger than Felix, surely, whose smile held something dark in it, something sinister, but his eyes were bright. "Welcome, boys!" His voice was strong. His hands raised up to draw their attention, and even the distracted boys stopped dancing to listen.

"Welcome to the forest." This boy, this piper, there was something about him that was familiar to Felix. Something that he recognized. But he wasn't sure what it was. "And let me start by saying that you are all very special. Only special people can hear these pipes." The boy grinned once more and brandished the instrument. "Only those of you worthy to be at my side can hear them. Only those that deserve to be rescued can hear the music." He paused dramatically, and Felix realized that he was holding his breath, waiting, hanging on the every word that the boy spoke. He didn't have to look to know that the other boys were, too. "I am Peter Pan. And I'm here to save you. To take you away to a place where you will never feel unloved again. And you will never grow old."

The words made a ripple go through the small crowd. All of the boys turned to glance at each other. Some smiled, a few looked disbelieving. But Felix, he was just shocked. Peter Pan? But that couldn't be. Peter Pan was someone he'd made up in his dreams as a child. Peter Pan wasn't real.

And yet, here he stood, looking exactly as Felix remembered from all of the years he'd spent as a youth, dreaming of being free of his mother's hatred, of his siblings needy looks. He'd almost forgotten about the dreams, about the boy he'd made friends with. He'd been sure that he'd just made Peter Pan up after his father died. After his mother stopped speaking with him. When he'd been made to grow up too quickly and take on all of the tasks that his father used to. When he'd become the man of the house. He was so sure that Peter was a figment of his imagination, a way that he'd found to escape and still act like the child he was meant to be, when his waking life had been thrust prematurely into adulthood.

Maybe he was dreaming now. Felix pinched the flesh of his wrist between his thumb and finger. The pain that shot through his arm told him that he was, indeed, awake, and there Peter stood in front of him. He hadn't aged a day since Felix's dreams.

"What do you say, boys?" Peter was saying, face lit up by the fire. "Who wants to join me? Who wants to come to Neverland?"

Felix glanced around as the boys began to cheer and raised his fist along with them. A land where he never had to grow up again? Away from his mother, who spent more of her time being disappointed in him than speaking with him? Away from his siblings, who clung to him and cried about how much they missed their Papa? He would do anything to be free of this life, free of the family who'd taken him for granted, who abandoned him until it was convenient for them.

Peter's grin was malicious at the unanimous response. "Well, then, come on, boys! We're off to Neverland!" From his pocket, he produced a shiny, white bean. The boys crowded around as he threw it, and a green portal opened under their feet.

Felix felt fear only for a moment before he was falling into the portal with the other boys. His stomach turned over as they fell, hands holding tight to the sleeve of another boy's sleep shirt. In a less-than-graceful landing, the boys wound up in a pile on the hard, dirty ground of a dark jungle. Laughter above them alerted the boys that Peter's landing had not been quite so messy.

"Welcome to Neverland." Peter said, sweeping his arms out at his sides. As he did, the vest and cloak he wore faded away. A stream of green fire, magic, Felix reminded himself before the fear could strike, swept over his arms and legs, his torso, transforming his common clothes into green and brown leathers. Camouflaged colors, the blond realized after a moment. Of course. Fading into the scenery would be important living in the jungle. "I'm sure you'll all be right at home here. Come, let me show you the island. Let me show you where you'll all be staying." The boy led them through the trees to a clearing. A snap of Peter's fingers had a fire lighting up on the pile of dried logs in the center, and a wave of his hand made hammocks appear, strung between the trees. "What do you think?" The question was asked as if their opinions would be considered, but the fire in Peter's green eyes told them that he would take any challenge as an affront, and God help the boy that spoke against him.

Felix slouched down when Peter's eyes flitted over the rag-tag group of boys in pajamas. He didn't wish to be called upon for any reason, to draw the wrath of Peter Pan, just because he was a good head taller than the rest. He wanted to blend in. Because now that the memories of his dreams came back, so did his fear of Peter Pan. Of the times he spent hunting animals and mermaids, of the way Peter laughed when he drew blood, caused death. Peter was a ruthless killer, and his charm was his greatest weapon. He could make you believe that he was your best friend, that he was good and kind, and then turn around and rip out the throat of another living creature. And after that? He could make you believe that it was necessary. That he wasn't causing any harm, and he could do only good.

Fearing Peter Pan was the first step to trusting him. As long as Felix remembered that Peter was unpredictable, that he could do anything with the ease of swatting a fly, he knew he would survive here.

"You, boy!" Peter's voice broke the thought process in Felix's mind, and his head snapped up. The blond glanced around at the others, trying to decide who Pan was talking to. "Yes, you, blondie. Step forward." When Felix didn't move, Peter's face cracked into a grin. "Come along, then. We don't have all night."

Felix froze at that moment, eyes finding Peter's in the light of the fire. He swallowed and took a shaking step away from the group, standing at attention in front of the boy. So much for blending in. He leveled his chin and waited to hear why he'd been called forward.

"What's your name?" Peter asked, stepping close before moving around Felix, checking him up and down. "You're quite old for a boy."

"F-Felix." Felix replied quietly. "I'm seventeen." He wasn't sure why he added that, why he felt that Pan should know, should even  _care_.

"You used to come here in your dreams, didn't you, Felix?" Peter moved back around to Felix's front. His green eyes were amused as he looked the tall boy over. "I remember you. You're the one who killed your father. We used to hunt mermaids together, isn't that right?"

Felix could feel the color draining from his face at the casual way Peter mentioned what he believed were secrets he'd told the boy in confidence. There was no denying it now, not with the other boys watching. He knew better than to contradict someone like Peter Pan. "Yes." He whispered, listening to the murmurs of the boys behind him. His eyes slid closed. "I did."

"Yes. He was teaching you to ride a horse, if I'm not mistaken." Peter smiled as he remembered, taking delight in the fear that shown on the faces of the other boys as the accident they remembered was spoken of, in tones of interest. "He was drinking, I believe you told me once, and he'd promised that he wouldn't anymore. Does this sound familiar?"

Felix nodded, refusing to open his eyes and see the expressions of the others, refusing to listen to the boys speaking behind him.

"And you did what, again? I'm afraid I don't quite remember." Peter's voice was too perky, too excited. Of course he remembered, he had to remember. He just wanted to hear Felix say it, to hear the words from the mouth of the boy, to make him say it to a crowd of his peers that had only heard the lie, what Felix had told everyone that hadn't seen. "What did you do?"  


Felix knew there was no way he could lie again. He'd spent so long telling everyone, including his own family, that he had lost control of the horse, that his father hadn't moved quickly enough. "I trampled him. I kicked the horse so he'd kick my father, and then I let the horse trample him." He hung his head when he heard the terrified murmurs behind him. He knew the boys were seeing him in a different light now. A killer. "And I'd do it again." He added as an afterthought. Let them talk. He didn't need the secrecy anymore. His mother couldn't harm him again, couldn't have him hung for what he'd done.  


Peter clapped his hands excitedly. "That's a boy. Grown-ups are scum." He looked out among the boys, who were all still reeling from the new knowledge of their friend. "They are the reason we all left, are they not? They've all hurt us. But here, we don't need them!" His hand found Felix's arm. "Now, about these clothes. I think you boys need to dress a little more appropriately. After all, pajamas won't help you hide from the animals in Neverland." He raised a hand, and in a puff of green smoke, the clothes they wore were transformed into shades of brown; leather pants and tunics, belts and boots and cloaks. "That's done, then. How about a song to welcome you home?"

Felix looked around at the others and, for a moment, he still saw their fear of him. But as soon as the music from the pipes began to play, their fear faded and they all began to move as one. The Lost Boys, taken from their lives of abandonment, of anger and loathing, and brought to a land where they would never again have to worry about rules and growing old. Felix could get used to this.


End file.
